The Ramsey Show - App - We Have $60K Income and 3 Kids, Should We Still Take Money From Our Parents? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, host of the Dr. John Deloney Show, big-time podcast these days, is my co-host. Open phones here.

As we talk about your life, he can do that, and I'll interject. And your money, I can do that, and sometimes he interjects. The phone number, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Nathan's 888-825-5225. Nathaniel's in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Nathaniel. How are you? Hey, Dave.

Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. Our family's gotten a lot of benefits out of your Baby Step, so thank you. We're on Baby Step, too. Way to go. My question is, we have been dependent on our parents. I'm married. I have three children, but we've been dependent on our parents basically the whole time we've been married, about five

years. We've recently come into a larger sum of money from the stimulus checks and tax refunds, stuff like that. And we've been trying to live independently from them and paying off our debts. Now, the question I'm wondering is, should I just take all the money we have, every dollar, put it on all our debt and get help now or try to stave off their help as long as possible and be independent with the high probability that in about a year, we're probably going to need to ask for help again. Why do you need so much help, man? What is it about your life that you can't make it? Because you went from help from mom and dad, then you went from help from the government. Right. Right. What's the problem? So the main problem, there's

a couple of things. My wife is chronically ill. She's got, she had a botched scoliosis surgery as a child and has a lot of chronic pain. so we spend a lot of money on physical therapists and rehabilitation and trying to figure that piece of the puzzle out. Okay. And so that takes up a lot of the money. And then it's been some help and failure to that. She has some dietary issues that help with her, because she has some muscle elasticity and inflammation issues. So that runs up our bill a fair amount. And so, and also I think there's been a couple of imprudent career jumps that I had. I had from liberal arts degree to DC think

tank to, um, corporate philanthropy to teacher to now accountant. So that, that too. So trying to figure that out. And I think I probably made more jumps than I need to do. So that too. So trying to figure that out. And I think I probably made more jumps than I needed to. So that's why we've needed help in the past. So what do you make? I make about $57,000 a year. Okay. And what do you spend on your wife's medical care?

Last month when we were doing our budget, May was our first budgeted month um it was probably over 500 dollars and then we also had to pay for frenectomy for our infant our third child and that was like 600 on top of that yeah but that's that's only one time thing your wife's is more right your wife is right your wife's situation is more chronic. And the food situation for your wife costs an extra how much? I'd say we spent close to $2,500 on groceries this month. That's an extraordinary amount of money. And you're talking to a guy that is so obnoxious about what I put in my body.

We overspend at our house, and you have almost tripled what I spend. Right. Obnoxious to the point that my wife rolls her eyes at me. Right. Something isn't clicking here. So you're just saying I need to reduce the food bill i mean and that's what we're doing right now which i mean we're trying to do the budget and making sure that's true i think there's a lot i i a lot listen number one neither one of us are are uh saying that we don't that we would we would not suggest that you don't take good care of your wife ever.

However, sometimes when you're dealing with chronic pain and chronic issues, the emotions around that can sometimes justify a different level of stupidity. Mm-hmm. And that's what we're calling out. Right. So, I mean, $500 a month did not scare me on medical. That's $6,000 a year. You've got a chronic situation.

That's very possible, okay? Uh-huh. That one I can chew on. Making $57,000 a year plus picking up some OT here or there or doing some other stuff, doing some tax returns or something if you're an an accountant, to pick up some extra money. We can handle that with three kids. You can make progress and live on $60,000 a year. And without your parents' help and without the government's help.

Okay? Now, the $2,500 food bill, though, something's really screwed up there. You're going to have to fix that and still figure out a way to feed her food that does not cause her issues. Okay. So it's really about just attacking the existence so i guess then the other question is like to that point is should it really just be really try not to get help from my parents i think it's ridiculous that you're getting help from your parents if you make sixty thousand dollars a year and have three kids

okay and i want you to flip the question around. How much debt do you have? Well, so I have about $56,000 in student debt. We paid off our credit card with the money that we got. But now I've been thinking about it. My wife has a loan that her parents said they would pay, but it's in her name that I do not know. The amount that I'm guessing is about $20,000. How much do you owe in your cars? Nothing, nothing.

Our cars have been guests. Okay. Any other big debt you're leaving out of this discussion so far? No, we're renting right now, but we're renting more in a more expensive place. How much? I would like $1,900. A little rich. Okay.

So let me tell you what's running through my head. I'll just share openly, and this is how I'm kind of making some of these judgment calls, and then you can go make them because you're obviously a sharp guy, okay? You have three kids, and you make almost exactly the average household income in America. And the average household in America has 2.5 kids. So, I mean, you are like average, average, average, average, average money-wise, okay okay and so you ought to be able to live on that that's what's running through my head now you mix in there you got some debt and you which most people do and we're going to help you get out of that and you mix in there your wife's medical issues and that puts an extra strain

on it but it does not break the camel's back uh so yeah you need to get on top of this and and you guys need to cut your freaking lifestyles and stay out of restaurants, and you're not going on vacation until you get some of this stuff straightened up. But that's everybody. That's not just you. Right, right, right. Yeah. We don't eat out just because my wife can't.

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. But here's the thing. When you have this much physical pain in the family chronic pain it begins to affect all decision making and that's where i was going to aim to he hit his we got a like a sliver into his life where i'm going from job to job to job to job man when home is hard and someone that you love is in pain and hurting man it's easy to go chasing happiness and joy at other places.

Well, and you're looking for the one thing. That's right. You're looking for a silver bullet. Yeah. If I could just get that one thing. If I could just get that one thing. I'm going to try this. I'm going to try that.

If I could just get that one thing. And that's a normal thing, and it's a type of desperation. And every time I get desperate, right after that, I'm stupid. A hundred percent of the time. And so, you know, I think you settle in on this job. You look for some stuff you can do at home after everybody's asleep to add to it. A lot of stuff. And you make some extra money and you tighten up this budget and you begin to get your hands around the emotional parts of managing through this pain, as well as the financial parts.

And it'll be the first time in your life, and it's time. Our famous $10 sale is ending soon. This time last year, a lot of folks got behind with their money. But this spring, there's hope our famous ten dollar sale can give you control of your money and feel good about your future save big on over 40 best-selling books and budgeting tools that will help you win with money save up to 60 on our proven life-changing books such as the total money makeover and Debt-Free Degree. These books will help you make a plan today for you to hit your money goals faster. So shop our $10 sale at our online store at RamseySolutions.com. And that's not all.

We've got a gift for you, too. You can enter to win our Ramsey Cash Giveaway. We're giving away a grand prize of $5,000 cash. To enter our giveaway, go to RamseySolutions.com slash giveaway. Hurry, the $10 sale and giveaway end on May 31st. No purchase necessary. Must be 18 or older to win. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. This is the Ramsey Show. Chris is in Omaha, Nebraska.

Hi, Chris. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Gentlemen, how are you doing today? Thanks for having me. Absolutely. How can we help? So, a couple years ago, we had our second child. And during all the prenatal appointments and everything, some things got screwed up on their end. And we got billed for a $1,400 doctor bill. And we went round and round between insurance and the doctor. That apparently never got settled because we just got hit with a collections agency for that $1,400.

I talked to the lady at collections, tried to negotiate for a lower amount or something. And she said, no, we're not that kind of collections you have to pay it all so just looking looking for some guidance here i'm not that kind of girl uh yes you are yes you are that kind of girl oh my gosh what about what a load of crap Okay. So have you gone back to the dock yet? Well, actually, we've since moved. That was when we lived in Texas. I don't care.

It's been a couple years. They got phones there. Okay. You haven't called the doctor's office yet and go, hey, butts, I'm getting a bill from you people. That was part of the rigmarole between, you know, hey, why isn't insurance covering this and why are we getting a bill? That was part of the whole rigmarole a couple of years ago. Okay, well, let me kind of, let's lay a foundation here, all right? Sometimes, including you, people get the idea that because insurance is supposed to pay something i don't legally owe it you do so you have a bill with a doctor for x number of thousands and thousands of dollars and

you owe 100 of that bill you are liable for it you're the consumer of that service you owe the bill you however purchased from a third party insurance that is supposed to pay some of the doctor bill that you owe. If they do not pay it, it does not remove you from liability. You owe the doctor bill. And so since insurance has not paid this, if it's a valid bill, you owe it. Now, what you can do is go back and chew their butt and go, why didn't you people run this through insurance properly, which you've already done once. Why didn't they fix it then?

I'm asking you, why didn't they fix it then? Oh, gotcha. So they said, well, we did run it through insurance properly, but the insurance didn't get the referral and the right paperwork in time so then insurance said well we can't backdate it so you know we're not paying so the doctor did not submit it to the insurance company properly uh yes okay then i'm chewing their butt and saying guys you need to write this off instead of holding me to it because you didn't do your job.

Okay. And that's the conversation you should have had back then, and now you get to have now, and then you get to pull it back out of collections. Or you get on the dock and you finally go, okay, but you need to start with the premise, Chris, that you do owe the money legally. Sure. And you can't go before the judge if you get sued and go the premise, Chris, that you do owe the money legally. Sure. And you can't go before the judge if you get sued and go, well, insurance is supposed to pay it, because he's just going to laugh and go, insurance ain't my problem, dude.

You have a contract with the doctor. The contract's broken because you didn't pay the bill. Now, however, the doctor's office, part of the service they're supposed to provide you, as well as labor and delivery, is to take care of insurance paperwork and the proper order. That way they get their freaking money. And since they didn't do that, I would challenge them that this is their problem. It's not legally their problem. It's morally and business-wise their problem.

Does that make sense? Yes, sir. Yeah, legally, if they don't file any paperwork they can come after you for all of the bill they can just throw up their hands and go we're totally incompetent we're not filing nothing and we're gonna own chris okay they can do that legally but it's a it's a horrible way to run a doctor's office it's a a bad practice management, and you're going to tell everybody you know not to go have your baby over there. So, yeah, I'm going to call the office administrator and have a discussion with him. I mean, calmly and kindly, but firmly.

And go, guys, this is on you. It was your lack of competence, and you should not be trying to bill us for something as you didn't file the insurance paperwork. Part of the service you provide, as well as labor and delivery, is to take care of filing the paperwork in proper and timely manner and you did not do that and now you turn it over to collections have these bozos who says she's not a girl like that and she is coming after me it's ridiculous and so that's how you handle it now at the end of the day you're going to end up settling this with the doctor's office hopefully for pennies on the dollar so get ready to write a $500 check part of that's on you because you didn't settle this back when it was hot. When the deal's hot, when there's a problem, you can't just walk away and go,

I wish it was okay. It's always going to come out of the closet later and get you. I'm right in the middle of dealing with this exact same thing and with the bill, and it's frustrating, and you've got to continue to make that phone call. Well, here's a funny one. So Sharon was at Rachel's first book tour launch party. it's frustrating and you got to continue to make that phone call well here's a funny one so sharon was at rachel's uh first book tour party launch party and i'm in the truck heading to the airport and i get a call and sharon passed out and so she just had blood iron or something i mean it's five

years ago and lobe iron or something and was excited and everything or whatever and and so they load her up an ambulance and take her to the doc. And I go down to the emergency room and see her. She's okay. She's embarrassed. She's like, I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm all right.

Okay. So I never thought anything else about it again. So I start getting these phone calls for a bill in collections. Me. Somebody's calling me. And I'm going, well, you got this. This is absolutely bull crap. There's no possible way I have a bill out in collection that's just ridiculous and so i'm just like i'm just hanging

up on the guy you know just whatever i'm not even talking to him and so finally the guy just they just they're wearing me out and so i turned it over i gave it to our attorney our staff legal counsel here i said hey man call these guys to straighten this out tell them i'm getting ready to own me a little collection agency because i obviously do not owe an outstanding bill that's gone to collections this is ridiculous well he digs around figure out it's the ambulance bill oh goodness i did owe the money it's a 400 ambulance bill and i never got a bill okay they never bill me they just jumped it in collections and then this little idiot's calling me with a headset on you know and this kind of stuff.

So I did owe the bill. I ended up having to pay it. But I'm just ignoring the guy. And I wasn't because I just thought it was bogus. I'm in the same boat. You cannot ignore it. I even tried it. You cannot ignore it.

It comes back, Chris. And then they start tacking fees on it. Well, they're trying. Yeah, that didn't work either. I looked at them. I went to the emergency room on Christmas Day with a poison ivy. It's a whole other story. No, I don't want to know about this story.

But listen. How do you get poison ivy in the middle of winter? No, don't tell me. I'm not going to tell you. It's a way only Deloney can. Yeah. But I looked him in the eye and said, if I pay you cash, can we shake hands and walk out? And their eyes lit up.

You're going to pay us cash in a rural ER? Absolutely. What you got? And I told him a number. And I said, Dave, I looked at this human being. It was during COVID through an iPad. And I said, you promised me. I don't owe you any more money.

We're going to shake hands and walk out of here. And she said, absolutely. I said, I'm going to ask you one more time. And you're recording this, right? And she said, yep. We shook hands. It was good. It was an obnoxious amount of money. But it's my own dumb fault for getting poison ivy in December. I said, I'm going to ask you one more time. And you're recording this, right? And she said, yep. We shook hands. It was good. It was an obnoxious amount of money, but it's my own dumb fault for getting poison ivy in December.

That's what I get. I went home. I got a bill. And it was a big one, a big bill. And I said, what in the world? And they said, well, that was for the hospital. The doctor has a different charge. And I said, that's like me going to Burger King and getting a number two combo.

And then three months later, the fry guy sends me a bill at my house that's part of the package i thought the doctor was the key part of the emergency room service evidently not and so now i've got this do i want to lose sleep and go to war over 200 bucks no or nope kind of i do dave well hey i do i know you you want to but i'm just saying do you want to so the uh i get the want to part but the uh here's the thing it turns out that you can be in the medical industry and be horrible at business practices and math why why apparently i mean because they've survived that way for decades now i mean every one of you listening out there has a horror story with some stupid butt medical bill everybody does i mean i actually was auditing a customer who's about to go bankrupt one time and they got charged 46 a piece for advil. $46 per tablet.

You can't make this crap up. I love America. This is the Ramsey Personality, is my co-host in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Barry and Amber are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, good. How are you? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do you live? We live right here in Nashville. Oh, Nashville. My gosh, we have a Nashville debt-free screen. We haven't had that in I don't know when.

That's awesome. So you just drove from your neighborhood. Yep, we should have. Wow, very cool. So how much have you paid off? It is just over $78,000. Very cool. And your range of income during that, how long did that take?

That's okay. We took 30 months. All right. And your range of income during that two and a half years? Started at 95 and ended at 115. Yep. Very good. What do you guys do for a living?

I am an ERP director. And I am a substitute teacher at our local elementary school. Cool. Which school? Harpeth Valley Elementary. Oh, yeah. Go Hound Dogs. Go Hound Dogs.

That's famous. Famous. Yes. The Harpeth Valley PTA. I've never heard of a school with that cool of a mascot. Go Hound Dogs. That's famous. Famous. Yes. The Harpeth Valley PTA. I've never heard of a school with that cool of a mascot. Go Hound Dogs. I love it. Well, Ginny C. Reilly, there's a song, if you were old enough.

Old time country. But yeah, that's it. That's cool. Very cool, y'all. I love it. So how much debt? The $78,000, what kind of debt was that? So it was a mix, like most.

We had medical that we started with, and then auto and credit cards, and lastly, my student loan. So you were kind of normal. Very normal, yep. How long have you guys been married? 15 years. 15 years. They're looking at each other to confirm. Just have a conversation.

Nobody's in trouble, but we're both checking. You guys pulled that first consonant to make sure. Yeah, 15. Same number. Same number. Nobody's in trouble, but we're both checking. You guys pulled that first consonant to make sure. Yeah. Same number. So what happened two and a half years ago? We had a bit of a breakdown. Yep. Yep.

There was no more bank transfers on our credit cards that were available, and the money wasn't increasing like we had hoped, and we had to make a change so we just sat down and there wasn't too much month left at the end of the money yeah yeah it was pretty devastating yeah that's an emotional night it it was it really was it was a very uncomfortable conversation that was ready to be had it's the ultimate oh crap moment so it's been building and building and building and building and then you just kind of hit the wall and you go, oh. Yeah, we went from a double income to one. Oh.

And so that didn't help either. And we continue to live in our same pace. And you can only go so far. Amber, when Dave just asked you that, you still remember that night like it was five minutes ago. It's still all over you. Yeah. He was sitting on the bed.

Tell us what happened. And we had this conversation. And basically what you said, there wasn't enough money at the end of the month. And we had the, are you going to go back to work? Double our income. But daycare or childcare here inville is exorbitant and i said financially that wouldn't make sense and so luckily they were at the age where they were both getting ready to be in school and i said well i can start subbing and i hit the ground running

and that you know with a budget the budget helped a lot yeah so but you changed your ways that night you did more than just pick up a job you said okay so what you you like i suddenly remember dave ramsey lived in nashville or what was what happened i mean i have been telling my husband about you for years and i was doing the money and i was like well if you don't want to do this, like, then you do the money. Oh. And he's like, I can do this. Oh. Yeah. Until he couldn't. And I was like, see?

Like, it's tough. It was tough. Yeah. So then? So then we continued for a couple years. I'm saying it. That night sitting in bed, okay, I'm going to start subbing. Yeah.

And you said, all right, I'm going to figure out how to do this because the way we've been doing it's not working. Yeah, we enrolled in Financial Peace University. Oh, there. Okay. That's what I was trying to figure out how to do this because the way we've been doing it's not working. Yeah, we enrolled in Financial Peace University. Oh, okay. That's what I was trying to figure out. Where you got new information that changed. Yeah. So you jumped into a financial peace class.

We did. Okay. We did. And then when that was finished, there she is, our lady, Lily. I ended up teaching one myself. Oh, wow. Okay. I wanted to stay accountable.

Yeah. And so he watched the kids and I went and taught the class. And 30 months later later we were done 30 long months that's pretty cool because you were popping like a couple grand a month on this we were over 2500 every little bit we could get our hands on yeah you were hitting it hard yep and we cut out a lot of stuff a lot of the we made lifestyle changes to you know not go out to eat we made we did only just the basic um travel we told our friends we'll see you when you come to our house and we can cook you dinner and we can spend

time together um but yeah the but nashville for us i think was a blessing because we wouldn't have been able to do that back home like there's so much to do here that you don't need money for and so we just started doing all that and then covet hit and we literally couldn't go anywhere and spend money so yeah that accelerates everything it really did yes as long as you're able to work yes and you were so yeah that's good news wow yeah well so you go from your throat is tight your stomach's in your throat, that moment, like you said, sitting on the bed, and sometimes it's sitting at the kitchen table and there's bills laying all over the table,

and you just kind of have a miniature breakdown there, and you go from that to having a game plan and having hope. How long did that transition take from freaked out to hopeful? I would say it was in the first probably three months. When we finished our FPU course, we had paid off one of our biggest credit cards that the intro rate was about to expire. And it was like just a few months into it, seeing like we can do this. You know, we don't have to live miserably thinking we're okay anymore. And so, yeah, it was, it took a few months, but

you know, seeing that debt paid off and that payment rolled to the next one, we had an Excel sheet. Um, and so seeing that snowball just get bigger and bigger and bigger was really motivating for us. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So what does it, what does it feel like now? We can breathe a lot less stress. Yeah. We dropped our car off this morning on our way here for some work. We don't know what's going on with it. And it's okay.

It's annoying, right? It's annoying. Yeah, it's just annoying. But we're going to pay for it out of our bank account and not have to worry about where it's coming from. It's not a thing anymore. So, Barry, what was it like? You're a successful guy. You've got a beautiful family.

Thank you. What was it like having to look in the mirror with both hands on that armoire and say, I'm not making it? It was scary because it was one of those things where I wanted to be, I didn't want to have any issues.

I didn't want to have to deal with them. And I just thought that we could make it for so long. And then after a while, it just came to a point where we hit a wall. And once that wall hit, it hit hard. And I knew we had to do something different. And I just remember her bringing up Dave a few years ago. And I said, you know what? Let's try something different. Let's inject something new into our lifestyle and go 110 on it.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, the beautiful thing about being sick and tired of being sick and tired, you're ready to change your life. Absolutely. And you reached that point where you said, that's it. I've had it. Yeah.

Whatever we got to do. And you kind of have to surrender. It's like, what have we got to do? gotta do and i've been there most people have been there in different areas of our lives but certainly money's a big one and and the debt thing okay i quit i'm gonna quit trying to figure this out by myself what have i got today yeah because what what i've been doing sucks and uh man you just reach that point and it's not a matter of name calling or something it's not a shaming thing it's just you it's just point, and it's not a matter of name-calling or something. It's not a shaming thing. It's just a reality, and you're going, something just got to freaking change here. Yeah, I think for us, too, real quickly was we actually went on your daughter's show.

Oh. Like roughly the first few months that we had started. There she is. And I remember listening to the podcast some months later, and you had asked, someone had called in, and they're like, I wonder what that couple from the Christmas show, if they stuck with that budget and how they're doing. And we were telling some people here, too, I was like, if they call us, we've got to be doing this. We can't have them call and say, so, Jovers, what's the status? And we're like, yeah, we kind of fell off. We quit halfway through.

We're failures. No, that wouldn't work. Yeah, yeah. That's a different kind of accountability. Yes. No, that wouldn't work. Yeah. Yeah. That's a different kind of accountability, being on the Rachel Cruz show. Yeah, we'll put you on the spot. Way to go, you guys. You brought the kiddos. Thank you.

What are their names and ages? We have Jocelyn, who just turned eight recently, and Jeffrey, who's about to turn 12. Great. They're very nervous. Very cool. They're going to do great. We got a copy of Legacy Journey for you. That's your next stage and one of the Total Money Makeover for you to give away.

So $78,000 paid off in 30 months, making $95,000 to $115,000. Barry Amber, Jeff, and Jocelyn, count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Woo!

That's why I come down here every day. Awesome! So cool. This is the Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. You can join him on the Dr. John Deloney Show, which is a massively popular podcast produced by the Ramsey Networks here. Call in at 844-693-3291, 844-693-3291, or email, and Kelly will get back with you and set you up to be on the show. Email at askjohn at ramseysolutions.com, askjohn at ramseysolutions.com. Lindsay is with us.

Lindsay's in Houston, Texas. Hi, Lindsay. How are you? Hi, doing well. Excited to be on. Just a little bit nervous, but thank you for having me. Well, we're honored to have you. Well, I completed FPU in 2017, and after doing so, I paid off my car.

I've increased my savings and investments. I don't have any other debt and I'm currently renting. I am going back to school to get my PhD and my school will be completely paid for through grants and graduate assistantships. And I will also have a monthly stipend, but that means I'll be on a fixed income. So, and I'm also needing to move to August, I mean, to the area in August. And so, the rental rates are pretty high in College Station, so I'm looking at purchasing. My parents are being extremely generous and offering to help me buy a house.

They're actually also debt-free and went there to see you in 2014 to do their debt-free screen. Cool. So you're going to A&M to get a Ph.D. in what? Educational psychology. And then what are you going to do i want to teach at the college level where at a&m i don't know how long does a phd program take i'll be there for three years don't buy a house okay yep that was my question okay because you listen a phd program i don't know anything about it i've only got one and you know i've got a phd in dumb but john's got a couple of them and i rumor is it that they're tough to get it's a lot of work the jobs after no no the getting of

the degree the whole process that the dissertation, the whole thing, right? Yes. Yeah, and then being an educational psychologist, to get a tenure-track job is going to be tough, and you know that walking into it. But the chances of you landing in College Station and working there after that degree are very, very small. I don't want you concentrating on home ownership. I want you concentrating on the completion of the Ph.D. and then quickly moving to the place that gives you a job. That's right.

Okay. And that was my question was with the short-term nature, if it was smart to buy or not. Exactly. It's a college town. So that makes sense. It's a college town. And college towns are going to go through a metamorphosis in the next five years

because people are not going to college like they used to. So it's going to affect real estate in a small town like College Station. In a major way. Okay. I do have one other question. Should I stop? I know it sounds silly, but do I stop turning into my Roth IRA since i'm going to be on such a fixed income or do i try as best i can to continue that your stipend do you have to pay taxes on that is that a five is that considered earned income it is yes it is then you then you do have an

income you can do a roth you can only do a roth though if you are guaranteed that you're not going to have any debt due to this education because i want you to I want you to invest in you before you invest in mutual funds right okay yeah I should not have everything should be um covered because I'm technically working as well for the university and that's paying for me ended, I would have to get another job, yeah. Okay, and so you'd find another way to pay for it. You know, I don't mind if you stop your retirement temporarily and pile up cash to complete this education, and not that you're necessarily going to need the cash,

but if you end up with $15,000 or $20,000 or 50,000 bucks or whatever in a savings account when you come out it's not going to kill you no that's that's your house down payment yeah right if wherever whatever you're going to live or you roll that over into your retirement once you get settled somewhere yeah yeah that's that's the process hey but that's man talk about you doing it right there's not that's an outstanding school. That's an outstanding program. One of my mentors graduated from that very program, from that very school. It is top-notch.

And when you can get a fellowship like that and they pay you to go. That's what I'm saying. You get through that debt-free, you've won. That's the touchdown. That's outstanding. Touchdown, Aggies. Good for you. Reggie is with us.

Reggie's in Chattanooga. Hi, Reggie. How are you? Hey, thank you, Dave, for taking my phone call sure uh question i have for you sir is your investor pro smart investor pro went on your website looked for some in my area found a handful of them um one actually maybe maybe not a mile away from me. What process do you use to find and endorse a smart investor pro? And is there a number that I can call with your company if I choose to use a investor with you? Okay, well, smart investor pros don't work for us.

They are independent financial advisors. We vet them, meaning we interview them and find out about them so that we feel good about endorsing them. Does that make sense? Okay, got you. And there's no one on there that we haven't spent extensive time vetting. However, they are humans and we are humans, and sometimes we screw that up, but not very often.

We've been doing it a long time. I'm very proud to endorse the people that are SmartVestor pros. And 99.9% of the time, we have zero issues with them. So then it is on you to say, okay, Dave Ramsey, the guy on the radio that I trust, has said this is a guy that he trusts, and I'm going to sit down and see if I share that trust. You don't blindly go off of anyone's endorsement ever on anything, but it's a good way to open a door. Just like if your friend says, hey, this is a good movie,

and you go, and the movie sucks, well, next time you don't take your friend's movie advice, right? But the same thing. So this guy, every book he's ever told me to read was a good book. His book reading endorsement is worthless. We all got friends like that, and I'm just your friend that way. So you still sit down and use your own freaking brain though and you interview two or three of them for your own sake and you decide uh does this person share my values do they i agree with

everything dave ramsey says and i'm following the baby steps but this person doesn't seem to i'm not going with that one which by the way let us know that one and we'll cancel that one because we want to endorse people that are going to tell you to do the stuff that we do here. So that you get a consistent experience. Does that make sense? It does. So that's one of the things I should see when I'm interviewing them, that they are actually going through your baby steps, correct? They should know the stuff, and they should not recommend something to you that is opposite of what you're hearing here.

Otherwise, the endorsement wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't have integrity. Agreed? Yes. Yes. I'm just trying to be sure of what I should be seeing and what I should be hearing. And you should be looking for someone that has the heart of a teacher. You should feel taught and coach coached not slimed yeah and

there's a lot of sliming in the financial world a lot of sales in this financial world but if you feel like you got to go home and take a shower after you don't don't use them and reggie i'll tell you this it it is they are trained to to expect that you're going to be shopping around a close friend of mine who is a smart investor pro that I didn't even know was a smart investor pro until I started working here. I said, hey, I need some help. And he said, I'm going to walk you through how we do introductions. But at the end of it, you need to make sure you're comfortable with me. And we might be great friends and not so great mixing this part of it up, right?

So I feel completely at ease to walk in and let them know hey i'm shopping around i want to meet with a couple of interviewing three people and i'm going to pick one they're not going to get their feelings hurt no bring you on and you should do that with a real estate endorsed local provider too you should do that any i mean you know these are people they're going to be teaching you and coaching you and making suggestions about your freaking money so yeah you need to be real comfortable with them and have interviewed more than one and don't blindly follow anything and so it always tickles me when someone writes us hate mail says you know i trusted you when you endorsed such and such and such and such heating and air company in timbuk2 and i'm like yeah we checked them out

they were good folks but you're also supposed to use your brain right you know in the process and if you're getting slimed and you go, well, Dave said sliming is good. No, it's not. That's not what Dave says. You know, I mean, it's just, but you're supposed to also be grownups. And I'm a grownup when I take someone's endorsement. And sometimes I don't take their endorsement seriously because I don't think that much of that person. So, you know, we all do that, right?

That's what you're supposed to do. So what we have here is trust, and we do our best to be worthy of that person. So, you know, we all do that, right? That's what you're supposed to do. So what we have here is trust, and we do our best to be worthy of your trust. But I can also promise you it is a freaking imperfect process. Oh, my God. James Childs is our producer. Kelly Daniels is our associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, and we'll be back. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life?

Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.